Here Comes Goodbye
by Luciana Grimmaldi-Reid
Summary: What happens to Reid and Luke's blooming chemistry when Noah doesn't survive his surgery?
1. Chapter 1

Reid stood just out of sight, watching Luke chat with his and Noah's friends, anxiously waiting for news. How he was supposed to do this, go out there and tell Luke that Noah had died on the table due to an unexpected bleeder, he didn't know.

He took a deep breath and slowly approached Luke. Luke's friend, the blonde nurse, noticed him first and alerted the others to his presence. Luke turned, met his gaze and offered him a heart melting smile. Reid worked hard to keep his expression neutral but judging by the way the nurse was watching him, he assumed that she knew something was wrong.

"When I got in there, I found some damage that wasn't revealed in the CAT scan or the MRI. A blood vessel leaked. There were complications." Reid said.

"So, what does that mean? That Noah might not get his eyesight back?" Luke asked. The fear etched in his tone caused Reid's throat to close up. Reid cleared his throat, and took a calming breath before continuing.

"Luke, I did everything I could but… Noah didn't make it." Reid finished. Luke just stared at him as his brain processed this information. Reid continued.

"With this kind of neurosurgery, to restore his eyesight, as I said, it came with a high potential for failure and complications. I can know a lot before I operate, but I can't know everything until I get inside and once I got inside, there was far more damage than I anticipated. A blood vessel leaking – "

"All right, you know what? Just stop, just stop." Luke interrupted, his expression changing from fear to grief then anger.

"What?" Reid asked.

"Just stop with all this doctor talk. Since the day you got here, you've been swaggering around town saying that you are the only person in the world who can perform this surgery on Noah and that you had utmost confidence in it and in yourself, and now - now you are gonna tell me that something went wrong?!" Luke yelled.

"As I said – " Reid started again

"You just said Noah DIED! What else could you possibly have to say?" Luke asked.

"You and Noah knew about the risks, Mr. Snyder." Reid said.

"Mr. Snyder", Luke repeated, and Reid knew in that instant he'd said the wrong thing, "Really. After all of this, I want you to talk to me like a human being, and I want you to talk to me like someone who gives a crap about what happened to Noah, you selfish son of a bitch!" Luke yelled.

"Luke, Luke! Just try to calm down." The older Mr. Snyder said, physically restraining Luke just as his mother walked up.

In the instant it took for Ms. Walsh to realize something was wrong and ask about Noah's surgery, Luke's anger had dissipated into pure grief, for his large liquid chocolate eyes to become glassy with unshed tears. Sensing a change in his son, the older Mr. Snyder relaxed his grip, and immediately Luke fell into his mother's embrace, silent sobs racking his body.

"Noah died." Luke whispered.

"Oh sweetheart." His mother cried. Reid stood there awkwardly as the news spread among the various people waiting the results of Mr. Mayer's surgery. A single thought buzzing around his brain like an angry hornet.

_My one chance with him is gone. _

It seemed like he stood there, glued to the spot for hours, until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Bob looking at him with sadness in his eyes.

"I heard about Noah. Reid, I'm sure you did everything you could but you're obviously physically and mentally exhausted. I called Katie to come take you home." Bob said.

Part of Reid knew he must be exhausted to not be irritated with Bob for calling Katie but mostly that angry hornet of a thought continued to sting Reid's brain. Reid made his way to the locker room, changed quickly and grabbed his phone and keys before escaping the hospital. He thought about walking to Yo's for a beer or maybe something a little stronger when he remembered that Bob had called Katie.

He doesn't know how long he sat there before he heard Katie calling his name, her voice emotional.

_She knew. Duh, this is Oakhell where good news travels fast, bad news travels faster, and everybody knows everybody else's goddamned business._

"Reid." She said her face full of concern. And of course Katie knew about Reid's thing for Luke since she'd guessed about it not long after he'd agreed to stay in Oakhell….

_And don't forget that she knows about the kiss in Dallas._

"Don't Katie. I really just want to be drunk." He said.

"Okay, Yo's?" She asked. He nodded.

Ten minutes later, she pulled into Yo's and parked.

"I'll be fine Katie. You should go home to your son." He said, as she got out of the car.

"Jacob is with Margo tonight. You need me more. I know it, roomie, so you're not getting rid of me that easily."

"Katie I'm fine. Patients die occasionally. This wasn't the first and whether I like it or not, it won't be the last." He said, taking a seat at the bar. The bartender nodded at him in acknowledgement.

"Scotch on the rocks." He said. The bartender looked at Katie as she sat down on the stool next to him.

"I'll take what he's having." She said. The bartender nodded, and as soon as they'd been served. Katie responded to what he'd last said to her,

"But this is the first time you've had more to lose than just the patient. Reid, I've known Luke a lot longer than you have so if you see that Luke's gonna have a hard time moving past his guilt now that he can't work that out with Noah, you have to know I have. But, Reid your chance isn't gone, it's just gonna be a lot harder work."

By the time she'd finished her little speech; he'd already downed his drink and had signaled to the bartender for another.

"Reid, you will have your chance, you're just gonna have to be patient and work a little harder." She said.

He scoffed, downing his second drink.

"Reid, talk to me." She demanded. He signaled for another drink.

"And say what? That you didn't see his expression when I broke the news, that his father had to PHYSICALLY restrain him to keep him from attacking me. Or maybe you'd like me to bleed a little and tell you that I watched my chance with him die with Noah fucking Mayer." He snapped.

"Oh Reid" she said sadly. He rolled his eyes and sipped his drink. It didn't matter what Katie said, he knew that it was gone. She hadn't seen the way Luke had looked at him, hadn't heard the inept way he'd reacted, the way he'd retreated to the comforting, emotionless, clinical doctor talk even though he knew, HE KNEW that Luke wouldn't respond well to that because he didn't know what else to do, and how it had just made everything worse.

"Reid, just give it time. It'll happen, I know it." Katie said, firm in her believe. He turned to face her, stunned at her naïve romanticism.

With that note, he downed the rest of his third drink and ordered another. He wanted to drown those memories away, hell he wanted to drown Luke away, out of his head; out of his heart although he still couldn't figure out how the hell the brat had gotten there in the first place.

On his sixth or was it seventh drink, Katie started to protest to how much he was drinking.

"Come on, we're leaving." Katie said.

"No, I want to be drunk." He slurred.

"I'm pretty sure you've accomplished that." She said, grabbing his arm and dragging him off the bar stool. Reid grabbed the scotch that Katie had ordered and left untouched, downing it as Katie talked to the bartender, and seemed to know her.

_Of course she does, I wonder if she's any relation to Luke?_

"Hey Terri, can you put this on my tab, I'll come in and settle it tomorrow?"

"Sure thing Katie."

"Keep this to yourself and I'll throw in an extra large tip."

"Keep what to myself?" the bartender asked, winking at Katie. Reid groaned.

Katie rolled her eyes before leading him out the door and to the car. He was asleep before she even started the car.


	2. Chapter 2

Pulling himself out of bed, and heading to the kitchen, Reid finds the coffee already made and a note from Katie.

_Reid, _

_Make yourself a coffee, take a shower and get your mopey ass out of the house. Go talk to Luke. I'm sure now that Luke's had time to cool off he'd appreciate a visit, as a friend, no doctor BS. I know what you're thinking but Reid I swear to God if you let something that was out of your control keep you from happiness…. Anyway I better not come home to find you on my couch hugging a pillow again. _

_Katie. _

Muttering to himself that he has not been moping as he drinks his coffee. He grabs a quick shower and goes to the hospital to check on some of his other patients. Of course the first person he'd run into is Luke.

"Reid, I wanted to say I'm sorry for how I behaved when you gave me the news." Luke said. Reid was completely baffled by this. He'd expected more anger. Taking a moment to collect himself, he said,

"What?"

"Yeah, I, uh, I realized that I was way out of line."

"Yeah." He replied.

"And I know you cared about what happened to him, I just, uh, in that moment, I couldn't deal with the cold clinical doctor talk…especially not from you, not after everything that's happened." Luke said.

Reid just stares at Luke. He can't have heard right.

_Could Katie have been right? Could I still have my chance? How would I go about…No, what am I thinking, he just lost the so called love of his life. Maybe….Maybe…. I should talk to Katie. _

"Reid?"

The sound of his name brought him out of his thoughts.

"It's fine, there's no need to apologize." He said.

"But you don't deserve to be treated like that. It wasn't right for me to take my grief out on you like that." Luke said.

"At least you didn't hit me." He joked.

"That's the other reason I wanted to apologize, because if my dad hadn't been there to hold me back… Anyway I should let you get back to work." Luke said, walking away before he had a chance to respond.

That night when Katie came home, he was sitting on the couch with a TV dinner instead of a pillow.

"How was your day, honey?" Katie joked.

"I think you might have been right." He said. A glance in Katie's direction showed him her smug expression.

"What happened?" She asked.

"He apologized for the way he treated me when I gave him the news."

"It's a start." She said, smiling.

"So what do I do now?" He asked.

"Spend time with him." She said.

"How do I do that?" He asked. Katie thought for a moment before speaking,

"I know! There's going to be a memorial dinner for Noah at the Snyder farm. I've been invited, so you come with me."

"I don't know Katie; wouldn't it be awkward for me to show up at a memorial dinner?"

"No, you came to pay your respects." Katie said. He just looked at her like she'd suddenly grown another head.

"On second thought, maybe it's not the best idea since you didn't like Noah but you are working on the wing together aren't you?" Katie asked.

"Yes."

"Okay, so invite him to your office to go over the plans, or maybe a business dinner or lunch. Then talk to him, get to know him, at let him get to know you, the side of you I get to see. The key is to go slow, give him time to get over losing Noah, and to actually see you as something other than a pain in his ass."

"So basically be someone other than myself?" Reid asked.

"No. You need to be yourself, of course, but Reid I know that somewhere deep deep underneath that jackass front you put up you're an actual person with actual feelings or else we wouldn't be having this conversation. Go with that."

"Oh and Reid, I know that patience isn't your thing but trust me when I say that, even if he returns your feelings and I'm sure he does, he's going to feel even guiltier than he did about the accident now for having feelings for someone else when he thinks he should be grieving, and any perceived pressure from you will have him retreating farther into the grief. He's going to push you away and you will be frustrated. Just remember that Luke is worth waiting for and whatever you do, do not voice any negative opinions about Noah." Katie said.

* * *

A few days later, he and Luke had the first meeting since Noah's passing scheduled. Reid kept repeating Katie's advice and hoping that Luke wouldn't call to cancel. He would never admit it but he was more nervous waiting for this meeting than he had been waiting to see if he'd get into Harvard.

_Of course that probably has something to do with the fact that my genius status pretty much guaranteed acceptance at any university in the country._

When time finally rolled around, he walked quickly to his office to find Luke waiting for him. He stopped just short of Luke being able to see him to really look at Luke.

_And damn did he look good._

Reid felt his heart rate pick up. He took a deep breath and reminded himself to go slow and allow Luke to see the parts of him he'd spent a majority of his life hiding. Finally he walked into the younger man's line of sight.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey, I was beginning to think something had come up." Luke said.

"No, I was just running a little late; you know this town is full of whiny hypochondriacs that need some extra hand holding." Reid said.

"And you were holding their hands?" Luke asked, disbelieving.

"Hell no, if I tried to do that I'd end up killing more patients than I'd save." Reid joked. Luke paled and Reid mentally kicked himself for the insensitive comment.

"So I'd imagine you'd like to get started so I don't waste any more of your oh so valuable time than necessary. " Luke said.

"Whatever gave you the impression you were a waste of my time?"

"You did." Luke said.

"No. I said your ideas were a waste of my time, not you." He clarified.

"Oh how did I miss such a _big_ difference?" Luke said sarcastically.

"I guess you were right the first time, you are a waste of my time." Reid said, smiling so Luke knew he was joking.

"WOW! You actually admitted I was right, of course that's not something I wanted to be right about but I guess it's the best I'm gonna get."

"Yeah as interesting as whatever this", he gestured between them, "is we should probably get started before something more important requires my attention."

"Yeah."

An hour later they were wrapping up the meeting and Reid thought he was doing pretty damn well with following Katie's advice. Luke had spent more time laughing than yelling, Reid had learned quite a lot about Luke's perspective and had even agreed to a few of the ideas that weren't completely useless. Deciding to press his luck, he said,

"I don't know about you but I'm starving, you wanna grab a bite to eat?" Luke just stared at him, not answering long enough to leave him wondering if he'd pressed his luck too far. Finally Luke said,

"Sure, cafeteria or Al's?"

"Oh definitely Al's; I avoid hospital food like the plague it causes unless I absolutely can't leave the hospital." Reid said.

"Plus you like messing with Henry." Luke said. Reid shrugged.

"You take life's simple pleasures where you can find them." He responded. Luke just laughed.

At Al's, they had just seated themselves at a booth when Hank came to take their order.

"Hey Luke, I was sorry to hear about…" Hank trailed off as he noticed him.

"Guess you're not as good as you claim to be." Hank said. He bit back the comment on the tip of his tongue when he noticed the pained expression on Luke's face. Instead he said,

"Hank you're brilliant, gloating about my failure in front of the person affected by it the most." He said, watching as the smile on Hank's face turned to horror when he realized exactly what he'd said.

"Oh God, Luke, I'm so sorry!" He exclaimed.

"It's okay Henry; Reid tends to bring out the rude in everybody." Hank scurried away after quickly taking their order.

"So I bring out the rude in everybody?" He questioned, trying to break the tension. It worked, Luke smiled although not as brightly as he'd come to expect from Luke.

Unfortunately before Luke had a chance to respond, his pager went off.

* * *

Two neuro traumas later, Reid enters his office to find his order from Al's and a note from Luke

Reid,

Thanks for today. Everybody's been walking on eggshells around me hoping I don't relapse.

Long story. Anyway, I figured you might need this after whatever called you away.

See you soon.

Luke.

Tucking the note into his pocket, Reid grabs the food and heads home. When he opens the door, he finds Katie sitting on the couch working on her laptop.

"Hey, how'd it go with Luke today?" She asked.

"How'd you know...No, don't answer that, Hank called you didn't he?"

"Yes." She said.

"Did you tell him?" Reid asked.

"Why would I do that?" She asked.

"For him to help you with whatever insane matchmaking scheme you've got planned….which reminds me don't attempt any such scheme on me and Luke."

"For your information I am not planning any matchmaking schemes let alone one for you and Luke. Henry called me to complain about why, after what happened, Luke would spend time with you and why he's the only one who can see you for who he thinks you are. To which I responded that maybe with Noah's passing, Luke might be trying to focus on work. I told him nothing of your thing for Luke. Believe it or not, I know how to keep my mouth shut, when it suits my purposes."

"And not telling Hank suit your purposes?" Reid asked.

"Yes. While I'm not gonna interfere unless asked, I think you and Luke would be good for each other so I'm also not going to be detrimental to you going after him."

"Don't tell me Hank is a Noah fan too?"

"No, not after what he did to Maddie but he's not your fan either, not to mention Henry's a talker. Last thing you need is for the whole town to be talking about your feelings for Luke. Even the most well meant comment made or question asked could ruin the entire thing especially given that the people most likely to make such a comment to Luke would not be well meaning, at least not about you."

"What makes you think any of them would believe I have feelings?" Reid asked.

"This is a small town, Reid, gossip is gospel until proven otherwise." Katie said.


End file.
